Nova Scotia?... No wait, it's Bitou Cape, Taiwan
April 5th this year was a national holiday in Taiwan called, "Tomb Sweeping Day". It is a day for Taiwanese people to pay their respects to their ancestors by visiting their graves and cleaning the debris off and to leave offerings at the tomb site. For Brian and I, it was an opportunity to dust the film of pollution off our city-dwelling selves and find some fresh air.
Brian expressed a craving to just "stare at the ocean for awhile", so we rummaged through our guidebooks and dug out our maps. A short bus ride later, we were on the North East coast of Taiwan, at Bitou Cape:
Brian expressed a craving to just "stare at the ocean for awhile", so we rummaged through our guidebooks and dug out our maps. A short bus ride later, we were on the North East coast of Taiwan, at Bitou Cape:
So much of the Cape reminded us of Nova Scotia, from the rocky shoreline, to the yellow-clad fisherman above, to the colourful boats tied up at the jetty. Scrambling up the rocky oceanfront to meet the waves on a windy day was so much like visiting Peggy's Cove (minus the sign to be wary of black rocks). The dramatic cliff faces in the cold wetness was just like a walk we took on the beach in Cape Breton on Valentine's Day. Some of the muddier cliffs shaped by erosion patterns even reminded me of visiting the Minas Basin in the Annapolis Valley one October.
There was also the weather: a perfect wet mist swallowed the day and made the trails and rocks slick and precarious. It was exactly what we asked for: a little taste of home.
posted by Pamplemousse @ 1:48 PM
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